A lot of investors like to consider the best-performing shares of recent periods to learn what companies are performing well as often winners keep on winning in the share market.
This may be because a company has a strong competitive position or product that customers just love that is actually giving it a widening moat, which flows through into unexpectedly strong profit growth.
Other less fundamentally focused or technical investors also suggest buying shares going up is a sensible strategy, or certainly a better strategy than buying shares going down.
So whatever you think about what charts can show us, it's always worth knowing about the best blue-chip shares over the past year, as some of these companies will likely go on to be strong performers over the long term.
Let's take a look at the 10 best-performing large cap shares over the past 52 weeks according to Commsec as at July 22, 2019.
Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) is up 131% over the past year as investors re-rate the international equities manager's earnings multiple on the back of what should be some very strong profit growth in FY 2019. It's also set up for some decent normalised profit growth over the six months to December 31 2020 given its funds under management growth in 2019.
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX: FMG) is the iron ore miner that has benefited from unexpected strength in the iron ore price. It has risen from $US67 per tonne at the start of 2019 to $US121 today according to Market Index.
Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) is a cloud (online) based software-as-a-service (SaaS) business in the global freight delivery space. Its share price growth has been largely the result of investors bidding its valuation up higher and higher.
Charter Hall Group Ltd (ASX: CHC) is a property management group, with a twist in that it also accepts investor funds to invest in its underlying property funds. Partly on the back of strong FUM growth it recently upgraded operating earnings guidance to 24% in FY 2019. You won't find many other blue-chip shares with that kind of growth on the ASX.
Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) is the buy now, pay later start up that has grown retail and shopper numbers very strongly in the US over the past year.
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) is similar to Wisetech in being an online SaaS business. Like Wisetech it's also taking an acquisitive bent and recently acquired Canadian tech start up Hubdoc for around A$94 million, but Xero is also posting strong organic growth.
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) is a gold miner benefiting as the gold price touches six-year highs around US$1,426 an ounce. Gold is rising as the US Fed turns dovish with investors expecting it that could cut rates by up to 0.5% in 2019.
Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) as a REIT and property developer is not the kind of company you'd usually expect to find on this kind of list. It too is benefiting from investors chasing reliable income as cash rates in Australia sink to 1%, with its place on the list a symptom of today's ultra-low rate Australia.
Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) is another gold miner benefiting as gold prices rise and the Australian dollar falls versus the US dollar.
Meridian Energy Ltd (ASX: MEZ) is the New Zealand-based hydro-electric power business that is also benefiting as investors chase yield increasingly eagerly. It also has a strong market position and some defensive revenue streams.
